


Through Every Storm and Rainbow (Stephew One-Shots)

by MerpTheNarwhal



Category: GTLive, The Film Theorists - Fandom, The Game Theorists - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, I lost a ton of sleep over this, Miscarriage, Unplanned Pregnancy, What the everloving hell have I created, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 06:25:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11777340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerpTheNarwhal/pseuds/MerpTheNarwhal
Summary: A collection of random one shots about MatPat and his wife, Stephanie. This couple is literally everything goals: best friend goals, relationship goals, marriage goals. I felt very inspired to write about ever since seeing their relationship for the first time. Some of these might be fluff, others will depressing af, and there will never be smut cause Lord knows I can't write smut to save my life.





	Through Every Storm and Rainbow (Stephew One-Shots)

Reality and fantasy are two completely different things; reality is what is and fantasy is what can't be. Many fanatize in their mundane realities, ranging from the craving of a chocolate chip cookie to yearning for a better home or lifestyle. There's a fine, established line in between, just like how purgatory is the middle ground of heaven and hell.

However, something that is constantly jumbled up in the human psyche is: "what is?" and "what if?" Think back to your most recent decision and focus on the option you choose, how many other options were available, and more importantly, what if you were to choose another path. There could be an entire alternate universe based on those opposite decisions.

What if I took that shortcut through the dark alleyway on the way home? 

Oh well, you took the public city bus home and arrived just in time for dinner.

What if I had confronted that girl about the slits across her wrist? 

No matter, she's six feet under now and it's the coroner's problem at this point.

This pondering thought can be placed upon short, unimportant, decisions or on the other hand, crippling, soul gripping decisions as well.

This is a story I like to call:

"What If?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The newlywed couple entered their small New York City apartment, back from their "honeymoon". It wasn't much really, just a trip down to Florida for it's sunny, 75 degree weather; a complete parallel to typical New York climate with its cloudy and dark skies and freezing snow. 

Of course, they would've loved to go somewhere more exotic like the Bahamas or Hawaii but it was too far away and more importantly, they couldn't afford it. They bent over backwards with their finances just for the wedding ceremony and reception. Besides, the sole purpose of a honeymoon is to spend time with your partner, it doesn't matter where it takes place as long as the time is well spent; however, this can be applied to most functions, not just a honeymoon.

As they entered, they heard the floorboards creak from not being stepped on in a couple of weeks. The sun shone a ray of light on the table in the living room, highlighting what a nice shade of brown it was along with the faint coat of dust covering it. 

Matthew had been in this apartment numerous times before. This was where countless all-night calls with Steph had taken place, the occasional visits from him during his theatre touring had taken him to and the site where his one and only proposal to her would remain embedded in.

But it all seemed different.

He couldn't pinpoint the words to describe it exactly but it just wasn't the same as before. There was no sense in wether it was a good kind of different or a malevolent kind of different. 

Perhaps for a sense of familiarity, he went towards his makeshift recording studio that he using for creating the narration to his show online: Game Theory. Everything remained the same as when he saw it last. So then, what was this feeling? Could it be-

"Hey Matthew! Can you hear me? I said what do you want for dinner?!" Stephanie screamed from the kitchen, derailing his train of thought.

He pushed his suitcase into a corner of their bedroom and headed toward the kitchen, where Steph was knelt in front of the fridge. Inside, there was some random leftovers, a banana, uncooked spaghetti pasta, canned tomatoes, ground beef, and canned peas. 

"Let's have some spaghetti."

And so, they began on their masterpiece. One pot of boiling water and a packet of uncooked pasta later, they had two servings soft, delicate noodles. Now for the finishing touches:

They opened the can of tomatoes, poured an estimated half to each serving, and to make it fancy: the peas sprinkled on top... and there it was their dinner.

They sat down at the table and ate in comfortable silence with the clanking of utensil and plates sounding every so often. 

Come to think of it, the two hadn't had a meal together in months. Matt was always in a new city by the crack of dawn every couple of days with his castmates, coordinating a viable time for a call was hard enough so aarranging a time for actual physical contact was next to impossible. With Matt always gone, Stephanie usually had the apartment to herself. 

Everyone gets lonely, it's part of being human; fortunately, when one gets lonely they usually have someone else to offer them companionship. Stephanie's case was different though, no one but her tiny little self in the Big Apple. It didn't help that so many horny, drunk guys would try to take advantage of her vulnerable state, often offering friendship at first then by the next week, it had escalated to trying to have sex.

"I have a boyfriend," Stephanie protested the same line to different men "so if all you want is sex, then just get the hell out." She said she slammed the door in the face of one of her pursuers, Zach, and to make matters worse, he was drunk.

"Oh, come on! Open the fucking door, Stacy! Stop resisting it, you know you want this dic-"

"Shut up!!" Stephanie responded, in tears. She was scared but more sad because she thought she'd actually made a friend. 

"And my name's Stephanie, not Stacy." She thought to herself but dared not speak it.

The cops had been called several times throughout her residence in the apartment, resulting in weird stares from her neighbors whenever she left for work. At one point, Matt questioned her about it.

"They're just surprised to see me with you. Guess they thought I was just the weird college chick who had no friends." She said laughing, not wanting to worry him.

Stephanie's trip down a clouded, black lit memory lane ended just as both she and Matt finished their dinner. They placed their plates and utensils in the sink, figuring they could just wash them tomorrow morning. They settled on the snuggled on the couch together and watched as reruns of old episodes Jeopardy and Family Feud turned into infomercials just like how the evening turned into night. 

They turned in for the night and headed to their bedroom, which had turned into Steph's bedroom in the past months since she was usually the only one here; however, tonight, it became their bedroom again and not as boyfriend and girlfriend nor as fiancées' but as husband and wife. 

They bid each other goodnight and fell asleep despite the noises of partying, traffic and celebratory screaming coming from the sleepless York City and into their bedroom. 

You may be asking, how were they able to sleep admist all this commotion?

Sinple. They were in each other's arms and that's all they needed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
Steph needed to return to work soon after. It was a job that she resented but desperately needed nonetheless. She unraveled herself from the jungle that was the bedsheets and after picking out her work clothes from the laundry went to take a shower. She turned the shower handle for a good 5 minutes until she was satisfied with the lukewarm temperature of the water. Following her shower, she quickly applied her makeup despite Matt telling her that she didn't need it; however, she wanted to make a good first impression with her bosses and co-workers since she was still fairly new to the job. 

With a mere 10 minutes to eat breakfast, she thanked every supreme beings and powers when she saw that her husband made her a bowl of oatmeal. She quickly gobbled it up which was followed by a shared goodbye kiss with Matt and her speeding out the door, hopeful to begin a fantastic, productive day at work....

It started with the smallest things. A coworker of hers had a birthday so they bought him a cake; however, when Steph was offered a piece she rejected the offer despite being as big of a fan of cake as the next person. Now, for some reason, the thought of eating cake made her stomach turn in disgust. 

Next came the fatigue. Every opportunity she got to lay her head down turned into an hour long nap. As soon as she returned from work she headed straight for the bedroom and just collapsed on the bed, not bothering to change out of her work clothes. She blamed it on the rise in amount of work she had been tasked with.

Perhaps the weirdest thing out of all was her constant need to pee. She'd always had a small, intolerant bladder but it was only inconvenient if she drank a large amount of liquid in one sitting. Now, it was as if even sitting down was a pull on her bladder. She wasn't sure what the cause was but she thought nothing much of it.

However, what really settled it was the nausea. It had transpired from simply not wanting foods to the mere sight or smell of a certain food triggering a tsunami of last night's dinner. Matt grew extremely concerned and practically begged her to go see a doctor. Even though she believed it was nothing more than a stomach bug that would fix itself over time, she decided to make an appointment with a local doctor  more for Matt's sake than hers. The doctor appointment would be of no use since they had figured out the cause mere days before the appointment.

A coworker but more so a good friend of Steph's, Amy, had been witness to all of her suffering. It wasn't until Amy heard her vomiting in the restroom at work that she asked her that had been on her mind ever since this started. 

"Stephanie, is any possibility at all that you could be pregnant?" 

It caught Steph completely off guard no doubt but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed possible. This had all started shortly after returning from her honeymoon and they did have sex during which.

The look in her eyes told Amy everything Steph couldn't due to her overwhelming anxiety taking over her capability to do or say anything. Amy looked at her watch and saw the clock reading 5:50. Somehow, Steph was able to comprehend what Amy told her next, the most important parts at least. 

"Steph, we need to find out if you're pregnant or not. I have a pregnancy test in my apartment and we get off at 6 so what we'll do is go to my place, get the test, go to yours and find out for sure. Got that?"

She slowly nodded her head so they both exited the restroom and headed back to their respective desks. Steph never realized in those moments how time can go as slowly just as it does fast when you're with a loved one. She couldn't even finish the last of work with the constant thought of possibly being pregnant clouding her mind. 

Finally, 6 ó clock came and Steph wasted no time in gathering her stuff, clocking out, and meeting Amy by her desk 

Another fun thing about Amy was that she lived in the same building as Steph, a few floors down actually. They had crossed paths in the elevator at some points but it wasn't until they just happened to have headed to the break room for coffee at the same time that they realized they were coworkers. From there a friendship blossomed plus the fact that Amy was a fellow Pride and Prejudice fan was like the cherry on top of the sundae. She was the one of the first people she told, besides her parents, when Matthew proposed to her and she accepted. Even though they had only been friends for a short while, Steph felt as if Amy was the sister she never had; she gave unconditional love and support. 

Right now, unconditional love and support was essential for Steph if she planned to live through this anxiety she was experiencing. 

After grabing the test from Amy's apartment, Steph and Amy rushed to Steph's apartment building, dashed for the elevator, and ran straight through Steph's front door. 

"Matt? Are you home?" Steph yelled into the quiet apartment. She walked into the kitchen to see a sticky note, on it read:

Got a late job interview. I'll be back soon, save me some spaghetti. :)  
-Matthew

"He's not home?" Amy asked.

"No. I-I think he should be gone for a while, he's at a job interview so..." Steph responded, the nervousness in her voice clear as water. 

"Well, let's go do this thing." Amy declared and walked toward the bathroom with Steph behind her. 

Amy stayed outside the bathroom, coaching Steph on how to effectively take the test. Finally, after a couple of minutes, she poked her head outside the bathroom, with the test on the end of the counter. 

"So, um, how long do we wait?" 

"Probably about 3 minutes." 

Thus began the most agonizing 3 minutes of her life. From a different perspective, 3 minutes is just 180 seconds so all you have to do is count to 180 and boom, your 3 minutes is up; however, Steph began to realize how big a number 180 was so she tried focusing on something else. She failed and ended up just zoning out until an alarm Amy had set went off. 

With her anxiety boiling up like magma in an erupting volcano, Steph walked to the counter, grabbed the test, shut her eyes tight, and picked it up. Ever so slightly, she opened her eyes until she got a clear reading of the results:

Positive 

And then everything went black.

* * * *  
"Steph, stay with me!"

"I don't know, Matt! Just get over here quick, please!"

"Where is she?!"

"What the hell happened here?!"

"Wait, I think she's waking up. Steph? Steph, can you hear me?!"

She drifted from somewhat conscious to fully conscious at Matt shaking her awake. As she opened her eyes, she could see Matt's worried expression and Amy in the door frame of the bathroom equally as worried. It only took 2 seconds to remember where she was and what had happened which she would now have to explain to Matt. 

Unless Amy already told him...

"Oh thank God Steph, you're awake. What the hell happened? Why did you faint?" 

Crap, she didn't tell him... 

"I don't really know. I was just washing my hands after using the restroom and that's the last thing I remember. Can you help me up, please?"

Slowly with Matt's help, she reestablished her balance and thus proceeded to walk out into the living room. On her way out, she saw the dreaded pregnancy test had disappeared from the counter where she could've sworn she left it last. She ravaged her brain trying to retrace her actions but with a very-only-recently-regained-consciousness mental state, one could imagine how problematic it was. She vaguely felt Matt carefully lay her on the couch and him telling her he would make her some tea. 

Amy knelt next to Steph and once Matthew was out of view and earshot, she revealed the pregnancy test that she had stuffed in her jacket as a last minute resort to hide it. Although Steph looked at the object with dismay, Amy wasted no time in asking what to do next.

After a minute of her looking up at the ceiling in a daze accompanied with a lengthy sigh, she answered. 

"Give it to me. I'm just going to give to him straight, right here and now. The longer I postpone it, the harder it'll be. You should probably get out of here, you shouldn't have to be here for this." Steph said as she hid the test on the couch behind her, out of sight for the time being.

With that response, Amy gave her friend a weak yet encouraging smile along with a hug and briskly walked towards and out the front door. 

Matt returned almost immediately after with a steaming cup of green tea made out of a tea box Steph had burgled out of her office break room. He asked as to where Amy had gone to with a bewildered look on face; however, that look was quickly covered up with concern after seeing Stephanie's anxiety riddled face. Her eyes were threatening to spill tears, her lips twitched as she desperately wanted to say something but couldn't find the courage to do so effectively, and she fiddled with her fingers absentmindedly. 

"What have you been keeping from me? I can tell you're not telling me something; there's no need to keep in anymore so just tell me honey." Matt said lovingly, putting his hand over hers in support. Their wedding rings making a small clink sound in the process. 

Despite her desire to tell him, she just physically couldn't. She knew she'd stutter way too much at every word to the point where what she was trying to say would be beyond comprehensible. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute feeling as if she had drank coffee, Monster Engery Drink, and Redbull all at once. So she decided to do the first logical thought that came in her mind. 

If she couldn't say it, she'd show him... 

With no disclosure whatsoever, she simply pulled the test from behind her and offered it to Matt. There was no purpose in asking wether it was positive or negative, she wouldn't be so hesitant to show him if it was negative. Despite that reasoning however, he nearly dropped the cup of tea upon seeing a pregnancy test in general. He placed the tea on top of the small cabinet next to him and took the test, reading and confirming for himself that Stephanie was pregnant.

What should you say after finding your wife is pregnant? I'll tell you what Matt said: 

"I..uh..I..um..uuuuhh...oh my God...holy crap..." 

He's going to leave me now. He's going to walk out the door and never come back. No, he'll come back but only with divorce papers. In a year, he won't even remember who I am anymore. 6 years down the drain because of some stupid mistake.

With her anxiety levels at an all time high and her uncertainty of Matt's feelings towards the situation, she began to cry hysterically placing her hands over her face to cover up her tears. 

"I'm sorry, Matthew...please don't leave me." was all she come up with and say through her sobs.

Taken away from his "matthew.exe has stopped responding" moment by his wife's crying, his primitive instinct was to comfort her, even if he didn't exactly know what he saying.

"What're you talking about? Why would I ever leave you?" He asked, now sitting on the couch next to her.

"Matthew, we can't have this baby. We can't afford to have have a kid now, I mean we can barely keep ourselves alive daily. Bringing a kid into an environment that full of instability and poverty would just be cruel, don't you think?"

She wasn't wrong. Everyday was a mystery to them: 

Would they be able to pay rent that month?

What would be for dinner tonight?

Will there even be a dinner tonight?

Armed with so many doubts in his head, he decided that his best shot at comforting Steph was to fight back his doubts with the exact opposite: facts.

"Well, we can't do anything about it now. Wether we like it or not, you're pregnant and eventually, this baby will come into this world."

However, it wasn't until he physically heard himself say those facts aloud, he realized how callous they actually sounded. The hard truth they spoke wasn't the best remedy for Steph's uncertainties as shown when she started to cry harder and louder. Matt decided to try again, more simple this time though. Simple was good, right?

He sighed and put his arm around her. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out. You'll see, it'll all turn out okay, I promise." 

She didn't respond but merely nodded her head ever so slightly. 

"Probably lost in her own thoughts." He thought.

"It's getting late, wanna go to bed?" Matt asked and once again, Steph replied with a quiet nod.

So they walked to their bedroom, each during their own before bed nightly routine. They got under the covers of their bedroom and drifted off to sleep. 

"Matthew?"

"Hm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Steph."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
My older brother has a little saying he likes to tell me when I experience doubts about anything in general:

"Wether you think you can or can't do it, you're right."

It portrays a good message but it never really stuck with me like it does to him. I always found it kind of annoying to be honest but we won't get into that. I feel like the saying futs particularly well with this story.

I guess the universe heard Steph and Matt's doubts because their problems were solved soon after they had began. 

It was a few weeks after Stephanie had told Matt about the pregnancy and they were as hopeful as they could be in their situation. They were planning on telling their parents as soon as the opportunity arose; they wouldn't be as ecstatic about the news compared to if it had occurred when they were more established in their careers but they hope they'd still be excited for their first grandchild. 

Matt had even managed to find a restaurant at a bar down the street, working as a waiter/server. Steph was beginning to make an impression on her bosses and it looked like she would get promoted soon. Everything seemed to be falling into place for them, they began to look at their future with hope instead of crippling fear.

It was a night like another except they had both come home from work extremely tired but awake enough to notice the other's weariness. They didn't even bother to eat dinner, it was beyond the time for it anyways.  
Instead they changed in their pajamas and jumped into bed.

Just as Matt could feel himself giving in to a good night's sleep however, Steph spoke to him.

"Matthew?" She spoke in frantic tone but Matt was too groggy to notice or respond.

"Matthew?!" 

"Hm?" He replied with his face still to the pillow and eyes closed.

"I..I-"

"I know what you're gonna say. I love you too Steph. Now go back to sleep." 

"Matthew. You don't understand, I think I'm bleeding from between my legs" She said, the panic in her voice now clear. 

For a few seconds, Matt didn't do anything but just lay there still; however, he jumped up from the bed, ran to the bedroom light switch and turned the light on.

With light now illuminating the room, he wanted to see what was going on so he asked Steph to stand up so they could see what was going on. 

Her pink pajamas bottoms were stained red in the crotch area and there was a trail of blood flowing down each leg. Even the bed was stained, it looked very similar to a girl having an unexpected period except this was much worse. 

"Holy shit Steph. What's going on?" 

Just as Steph was able to respond she kneeled over in pain, clutching her stomach. Matt rushed over to her side, trying to help but not quite knowing what to do.

"What's wrong?!" He asked, mentally slapping himself once he realized how dumb of a question that was.

Steph could barely barely stay awake so explaining the situation to Matt was out of the question. Somehow though, she managed to get the basics through gut wrenching waves of pain. 

"There's... something... wrong... the baby." 

Matt didn't know what the ever loving hell to do, it was like if someone gave you 10 apples and said figure out the distance to the sun from where you are exactly right now. The most logical thing was to take her to a hospital but they didn't have any medical insurance and were in no shape to fall further down the rabbit hole of debt. The only other option seemed to be to just wait it out and hope for the best.

The pain went away after about 30 minutes. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the bleeding to stop. Steph didn't want to sit on the toilet until the bleeding stopped so she put a pad and simply sat in the living room for a what seemed like an eternity.

They both knew what had happened after the shock of the moment faded, it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened: Steph suffered a miscarriage. 

To say she was devestated afterwards would've been a lie. Disappointed was a better descriptor of how she felt in the moment, she was sad that her baby had died but also relieved a bit seeing as how she wouldn't have to worry about caring for a child. It sounded incredibly cruel and Steph recognized it herself but the reality was that she and Matthew were incapable of handling a child now, no matter how much they wanted to think otherwise. 

She didn't even take the day off work after the miscarriage and went in as normal. She didn't feel that different and she even managed to forget about it for a little due to the merciless of her bosses, more specifically amount of work they continued to pile onto her. 

Amy did ask how everything was going at one point and Steph had to break the news to her. Amy began to cry a little and offered he condolences even though Steph insisted she was fine. As Amy continued to cry in memory of the baby, Steph felt that this reaction should've been her reaction: crying, not being able to fully understand why, and a general mourning feeling. With Steph having to go in a meeting soon and Amy's shift ending soon, they said goodbye and parted ways for the day.

The mourning would come weeks after the incident however. Amy had been transferred to a different branch of the company in Georgia and she left but not without a tearful farwell from Steph and vice versa. 

Perhaps it was her increased sense of vulnerability now that she had no friends at a job she still sucked at that contributed to it. She was speed walking around the office after her lunch break when she accidentally bumped into a co worker causing her to drop all the folders and documents she was holding.

"Oh god. I'm so sorry." Steph apologized for her clumsiness as she helped her pick up all the scattered papers. 

Among all the papers she picked up, she noticed a paper that was differed from the rest. Once she get a good look at it she saw that it was postive pregnancy test results from a doctor. She wanted to ask her about it but she felt it to be intrusive since she wasn't meant to see the paper; she apologized once more and returned to her desk to continue her soul crushing work. 

As her shift was about to end, she began to pack up and clocked out once her shift ended. On her way out, she saw a woman also packing up but she was packing everything in a box; concerned that she had been fired and was in need of some consolation, she went to ask what was wrong only to be greeted by a pregnant belly once the woman turned around. Even though she had already guessed the explanation, she still asked the question because it'd be weird if you tapped on a person only to run away or stay there in silence, trust me I know.

"Hey, why are you packing up in a box?" 

"Well, today was my last day here because of... well you know." The woman gestured toward ger bulging pregnant belly. "I'm just taking everything of mine home with me. I'm going back with my parents in Pennsylvania to have the baby there." 

"Wait, why are you going all the way to Pennsylvania? Why not just have the baby here?" Steph asked confused.

"Oh. Um, well my husband died some months ago in a mugging gone awry. I'm going with my family so they can help with the baby." The woman responded, in a somber tone.

A wave of empathy washed over Steph. "Oh my god, that's awful. I'm really sorry." 

"Thanks but I'm okay, really. They caught the muggers and they've been convicted. I did my mourning, accepted it, and now all that's left is to keep moving foward. Besides with this little rascal on the way, I guess I'll always have a part of him with me." She said as she packed the last item in the box, a picture of her and a man, presumably her husband, with beach hats and sunglasses. 

She closed the box shut and took the box in her arms. She said a small goodbye to Steph and took her leave to bid farwell to everyone else as well as turn in her letter of resignation to her boss. 

As she walked out of the building, she took her words into deep consideration. 

"I did my mourning, accepted it, and now all that's left is to keep moving foward."

She arrived home to the sight of Matthew napping on the couch, probably still resting after his late shift yesterday. She walked over to him and kissed him on his forehead to tell him she was home. 

She walked in her closet, grabbed a pair PJ's, and she went into the bathroom to start a hot shower. She stepped in and began to wash her hair; as she moved to the other side of the tub to reach the soap, she stepped on something small and squishy. She assumed the soap must've fallen without her hearing it so she rinsed her face and hair one last time before opening her eyes. 

She saw blood all over the tub floor and interior sides. There was blood staining the water as it went down the drain and clumps and pieces of something she couldn't quite figure out. She saw on the soap on the holding spot in front of her, right where she had seen it last. 

So if the soap hasn't fallen, what did she step on? 

She looked down and realized in horror she had stepped on the corpse of a small human fetus. 

She screamed, quickly reached for her towel, wrapped it around herself, and pulled back the shower curtain only to be greeted with more blood in the toliet; inside the toliet was another human fetus except this one appeared to still be alive, with it's small chest moving up and down and it's tiny hands seemingly reaching for it's mother.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
There's nothing like your wife screaming bloody murder from the bathroom to wake you up from an after work nap. One minute he was sleeping soundly on the couch and the next he was running towards the bathroom door where he could hear Steph crying on the other side. 

"Steph! Are you okay, what's wrong?! Can you unlock the damn door so I can come in? Damnit Steph, talk to me!" 

Fearing that she was injured, he twisted and yanked at the doorknob with pure frustration until he remembered the bathroom key they had. He ran to their bedroom and frantically searched through all the drawers and finally found the key in one of the bedside drawers.

Despite his anxiety that was devouring him with worry, he remained calm and was able to open the door without fumbling around with the key. Once he heard the door unlock, he practically threw himself at the door.

Steph was on the floor with her head in her knees, sobbing uncontrollably and her hands in her soaking wet hair. The towel had been thrown over the toliet seat in an attempt to cover or contain what was inside. He reached over to try to remove the towel and see what was inside but Steph stopped him.

"You don't wanna see what's inside, trust me." She said in a somber monotone voice.

"Why not? What's in there? Are you okay?" Matt responded

With those questions, Steph began to cry so Matt figured that whatevet laid in the toliet seat, no matter how horrendous or evil it was, he had to see it. So despite Steph's warning, he pulled the towel off and looked inside. 

"Steph, what the hell are you talking about? There's nothing in here." 

Those words were like lightning to her already perplexed mind. She looked in the toliet as well only to see the clear sewer water and the pristine white sides of the toliet seat. Her heart and mind were going into overdrive trying to make sense of the situation. 

"How is nothing there? I saw that.... thing in there a minute ago so why is it not there? Did it go down the pipes? Could it have? Did I just not notice?"

"But.... I just saw it in there. It was a fetus, it was all bloody and it was alive and it reached out to me with its hand. It was in the tub too!" She pointed to the tub expecting it to be a bloodbath, only to see nothing of what she had experienced only moments ago. 

She looked to Matthew for reassurance and comfort only to be met with a highly concerned look. How desperately she wanted to take him into her mind so he could see what she had but alas, that wasn't possible.

"Stephanie, are you sure you were dreaming it? Maybe you fell asleep and it was just a dream." He knew how ridiculous that explanation was but he didn't know what else to say.

"No no no! I didn't imagine it Matthew! I wouldn't conjure up something like that and I didn't fall asleep standing up in the shower." 

"Honey, maybe you're imagining things."

"Oh, so I'm crazy now Matthew? Is that what you're saying?"

"No, of course not. I'm just saying that you went through something traumatic and this could be a result of unresolved trauma."

"What are you talking about?"

"Stephanie, I know we avioded talking about it but you had a miscarriage for God sakes. That isn't just an ordinary day kind of thing, there are some women who kill themselves cause of this." 

"So you're saying I'm going to kill myself now?" 

"What? No! I'm trying to tell you that we need to talk about it and get you help because if you're seeing dead fetuses, it's a clear-cut sign you need help. You need to accept this and move on, we both do."

"NO. I'M NOT GONNA ACCEPT THIS, I REFUSE TO."

"WHY NOT?!"

"BECAUSE IF I DO, THAT MEANS I'M NOT NORMAL." She screamed at him.

There was a moment of silence between the two while Matt fully processed what she said.

"What?" He asked, stunned

"Don't you get it? If I can't do something like carry a child to term, which is what women were biologically made to do, then there must be something wrong with me."

Before she could continue, she was embraced in a hug by Matthew who held on to her as if she were his anchor to the ground. 

"Stephanie, there's nothing wrong with you. For whatever reason, this ended the way it did and I'm sure it was for the better. But remember that no matter what happens, I love you without question and you can always talk to me."

"Yeah, I know that now."

They stayed there just hugging in the middle of the bathroom for what seemed like an eternity. It didn't matter though, neither of them wanted move away anyhow. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
However, it wasn't until they had moved to California that they actually sought out a psychiatrist. Steph was diagnosed with Acute Stress Disorder but it wasn't to the point where she needed to be medicated. 

The one thing I think everyone learns at one point in their lives is that life waits nor stops for anyone. Your dog could've just died yet someone just adopted a new puppy somewhere else on the same day. This rule of thumb applied no differently to the Patricks.  
Matt started doing YouTube full-time and Steph quit her job to help her husband as well as start/run a business with him; they even got a Turkish Van and named him Skip. The miscarriage went into the deep, dark breeches of her mind and stayed there. She hadn't thought about it for years in fact until she was on set for YouTube Couples React and she met Missy Lanning. 

All she knew about Missy was that she and her husband, Bryan, ran a daily vlogging channel named Daily Bumps where they filmed their lives. 

It was lunch time, Matt and Steph were done filming the new YouTube Couples react. Most of the staff were eating lunch outside so they decided to join them; however, they wanted sushi, which wasn't available from the lunch table nearby, so Matt went in search for the food while Steph saved them a table. 

10 minutes later, a car pulled up in the parking lot and a couple stepped out. Sbe immediately recognized them as Missy and Bryan Lanning but said nothing due to the fact that she was a complete stranger to them. She watched as they walked towards the entrance and were about to open it, only to be met with an employee who notified them that since the majority of the staff were on lunch break, including Benny and Rafi Fine themselves, their filming session would begin after lunch. He apologized for the inconvenience and offered the option to eat lunch here until the set was ready. 

They seemed pretty sold on the idea and went collected their food only to be met with another dilemma: where to sit? 

Just then, Steph got a text from Matt.

Hey, Jason and Chris are having some kind of trouble with the tricaster for today's stream. They want us to come back see if we can figure it out asap so I don't think we can have lunch at the studio. Sorry :("

She responded.

"Oh that's okay. Just come back, pick me up and we can have the sushi at home. Please tell me you were able to get sushi or is that some more bad news I have to be sad about?"

Once again, he responded and this time he included a picture of sushi takeout in the driver's seat of his car. 

"No, don't worry. I was able to find some, I just got out of the restaurant now so I'll be there in a little. See you soon, love you :)"

"Love you too."

Following the text message conversation, Steph walked over to Missy and Bryan and offered them her table, seeing as she wasn't going to be needing it after all. They did seem skeptical at first but they accepted her offer and sat down on the side opposite to her. She introduced herself and they did the same; Bryan excused himself to go use the restroom, leaving Steph and Missy alone. 

One of Steph's bad habits was that whenever she was bored or in an akaward situation, she would fiddle with her wedding ring. She was playing around with it while on her phone when it somehow manged to slip off her phone and consequently under the table. Panic started to set in as she realized that the ring could've rolled off into the street or even the dirty L.A. sewers; she frantically searched for it with her anxiety rising every second when Missy offered her help.

"What'd you drop?" Missy asked

"My wedding ring, oh god what if I can't find it?" 

"I'll help you. Don't worry, I'm sure it's around here somewhere."

As if her words were a magical locating spell, she reached behind one of the table legs and held the precious ring in her hand. They went back up above the table and she handed Steph back the ring. 

"Oh my god, thank you so much. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't found it, you're a real lifesaver." Steph said as she put the ring back on her finger, making a mental note to not tamper with it anymore. 

"It's nothing really, I remembered I lost mine a week after I got married and I thought I'd lost it forever. I turned the house upside down looking for butas it turned out, it had just fallen behind the bedside drawer after I moved to snooze my alarm." Missy responded, sympathetically.

"Oh, how long have you married?" 

"9 years but we got divorced soon after we first got married. We got back together 4 months later though and we remarried." 

"Oh wow. Well, it seems like everything worked out okay for you two."

"Well, we have our ups and downs but I'm happy we were able to get through it. How long have you been married?"

"5 years but we've known each other for about 11 years so we've been with each other through thick and thin."

Just as she was about to respond, Missy's phone rang and she excused herself to take it. The phone call didn't last very long and she sat back down a couple of minutes later.

"Sorry about that. It was the babysitter calling me to ask when we would be back."

"Oh, you have kids?" Steph asked, curious. 

"Yeah, I have 2 boys. Oliver, who's 3 years old, and Finley who's 1 year old." She said while showing Steph pictures of each child. 

"Aw, they're adorable." 

"Yeah. What about you? Do you have kids?" Missy asked, enthusiastically.

A pillar of recollection stabbed through her mind as she was brought back to 5 years ago. She did have a child but it died so soon that it didn't even have the chance to take a living breath on Earth. She could tell a white lie and avoid the look of pity people often gave her once they found out or she could do the opposite have to endure said look once more as well as an akaward silence following the revelation. 

"Well, you see, I got pregnant 5 years ago but I had a miscarriage nearly right after finding out. No one else besides my husband and now, you, know; I never even found out wether it was a boy or girl. I thought I was okay with it, you know, we were nowhere near ready for a kid so I took it as a sign that it shouldn't have been born into the harsh living conditions we were in. Then, the halliuncations started. Matt thinks I only had the one in the bathroom but in reality, they had been going on ever since I lost the baby. It started out subtle with things like the sound of a baby crying or me seeing a pacifer somewhere odd like at work. I thought I was going crazy but that damn hallucination in the bathroom really nailed the coffin shut. " 

Missy said nor did anything but just sit there. 

"Great, the akaward silence came early. Maybe I shouldn't have said so much." Steph thought as she immediately regretted her decision to tell Missy about her miscarriage. Finally, Missy spoke again.

"You know, I also had a miscarriage about 8 years ago. Me and Bryan had been trying to concieve and I got pregnant. It was supposed to be a baby boy but at the 10 week ultrasound, he had no heartbeat." Missy revealed.

"So how'd you get over it?" Steph asked.

"The truth is: you don't. You never truly get over it so all you can do is accept it and look foward. It's a tragedy but the truth is you can't do anything about it now." 

"But doesn't it make it feel incompet as a woman that you can't even do what biology says you should be capable of doing?" Steph asked, finally letting out the concern from 5 years ago. 

"You know, after I had my miscarriage, we kept trying and I got pregnant again. I was nervous but once the pregnancy had progressed to the safe point at which we could tell family, I was ecstatic. We found out it was a boy and we even named him Gabriel; however, he was a stillborn at 20 weeks. The doctors had told me it was near impossible that I could actually give birth to a heathly child so I should look into other options for having a child. Then, I found out I was pregnant with Oliver and he was perfectly normal. I guess what I'm trying to say here is never give up. I mean, I doubt you could've done anything different to change the outcome of that pregnancy; sometimes, these are things that just happen and they serve to make you stronger." 

A car horn blared and interrupted their insightful conversation. They both looked it's direction to see Matt waving at Steph, gesturing her to get in. Caught completely off guard, Steph scrambled everything of hers together and heading towards the car. However, she stopped and turned to say thank Missy. 

"Hey, thanks for helping find my wedding ring and more importantly, talking with me. I've felt that I couldn't talk to anyone about this without it being akaward, I guess." Steph said with a small smile. 

"Oh, it was no problem at all. I was trying to help in anyway I could." Missy replied 

Stephanie waved goodbye and walked to the car. She opened the passenger side door and was greeted by the smell of sushi inhabiting the car. 

"Hey, what happened? I called you like 5 times to tell you I was near so you could be ready, why didn't you answer?" Matt asked while Steph was buckled her seatbelt. 

"I'm sorry. I got to talking with Missy over there on the table and I guess I must've not heard the calls." Steph replied, looking ahead in the distance, lost in her own thoughts.

"Hey, are you okay? You look kinda out of it." Matt asked, growing concerned. 

Steph became conscious that she was zoning out and quickly reassured him. 

Steph jumped slightly, Matt's voice pulling her back to reality. "Huh? Oh! It's nothing really, I'm just thinking about some stuff. It's nothing serious so you don't have to worry." 

Wether it was serious or not, Matt still worried and he knew there was something more to the story that Steph lead him to believe. He considered pestering her about it to get an answer but he knew for certain it would only make things worse and end with Steph being annoyed. He decided that once Steph was ready to tell him, she would and so, he drove out of the parking lot and towards home to eat sushi.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
It was dinner time in the Patrick household, Jason and Chris had left for home about an hour earlier so the ones home were the Patricks themselves. 

Matt was upstairs in his cramped recording closet studio recording a script for an upcoming theory on Star vs. The Forces of Evil while Steph was in the kitchen preparing dinner, which were yesterday's leftovers. Once she had finished, she walked up the stairs and opened the doors to the closet, making sure to knock beforehand so Matthew wouldn't get startled like what happened with the burrito mishap. 

Once Matthew opened the closet doors, Steph made a gesture signaling that dinner was ready instead of actually speaking just in case her voice would somehow mess up the recording. Matthew nodded in response and proceeded to save what progress he had made. Upon seeing the other half of his owners or perhaps smelling the food downstairs, Skip perked his ears and left his comfy napping postion from where the sun had earlier shone. As if they didn't already pamper him enough, Steph carried Skip down the flight of stairs and served him his highly anticipated food.

Steph grabbed a plate and helped herself to some of yesterday's chicken and set it as well as Matthew's plate on the table. As she heard his footsteps descending down the stairs, she double checked to ascertain that the dessert was ready in the oven. Not a second passed after she had closed the oven door that she saw, in the corner of her eye, Matthew peeking his head over a wall in the kitchen in a now futile attempt to scare her. 

She laughed. "You know I can see you, right?" She said as she turned in his direction so she could see the look of defeat that was guaranteed to be plastered all over his face. 

"Alas, no one can defeat Stephanie's hawkeye gaze. Cheetas and gazelles are powerless against her first rate vision." Matt teased as he emerged from the shadows behind the kitchen wall.

She chuckled and went to give him a small kiss on the lips. "Come and sit down or else your food is going to get cold." 

"Is a simple peck on the lips all I'm going get tonight?" Matt whined as he sat down to eat his meal.

"For now." She said winking, heavily hinting at the what "adult activities" could be had later on. 

For the rest of dinner, they talked about future theories: what had been collected from research, the stage of progression some were in, and when they would be ready for uploading.

Once they had finished their dinner, Matt thanked Steph for the delicious dinner and kissed on her head and was on the verge of returning back upstairs to his recording session when she suddenly stopped him.

"Wait!" She said, causing him to turn around, ready to listen to what she had to say. 

Crap, this is it. There's no going back now. Well, I could always tell him it's nothing and to forget about it. Yeah, maybe I should do that. No! You have to stay strong, the longer you keep it a secret the more difficult it's gonna be to tell him later on. Just do it now!

"I made some dessert, do you want some?" She asked, crossing the point of no return. 

Against his better judgement for his health, he agreed wholeheartedly. "Of course but what is it exactly?" 

"Look in the oven to find out." 

Following her orders, Matt went to the oven, put on oven mitts in case it was still hot, grabbed the dish from said oven and set it on the kitchen. It wasn't until it was on the kitchen that he actually bothered to see what it was:

A bun on a baking pan.

His mind raced with questions, none of them were right. 

"Why'd she make just one bun?" 

"Is a bun even considered dessert?" 

"Does it have anything inside like jelly or vanilla filling?" 

It took him awhile to actually put the pieces together and figure what it all meant. 

Oven bun?

Bun oven?

A bun... in... an oven...

A bun in the oven!! 

Wait...

Wrecked with anxiety and barely able to utter any comprehensive words, he turned to Steph and asked the only logical question of that night.

"Steph, are you pregnant?" 

She smiled wide and laughed. "Well, no. Not yet, at least." She said, walking to him and taking his arms into hers. 

"Huh? What do you mean? What is all this?" 

"Matt, do you want to have a baby?" She asked anxiously. 

There was a long moment of silence as once again, matthew.exe stopped functioning and was in the process of restarting. The only thing that brought Matt back into reality from space and time itself was a meow of concern from Skip. He was reeled in back into reality and was met with a nerve wrecked Steph awaiting his answer. 

"Wait, what? What'd you say?" He asked, clearly dumbfounded as if the question had been a rock that had struck him in the head and given him a concussion.

"I said, do you wanna have a baby?" She repeated. 

Instantly, he pulled her into a tight and passionate kiss. Initially taken by surprised by the kiss, she returned the kiss with both the same amount of passion and a tad bit of relief. Matt pulled away in order to give her a proper response, as if the kiss hasn't spoken volumes

"Of course, I want to a family with you Steph. It's something I've always wanted ever since we met." He said, beyond ecstatic. 

Relief washed over Steph as she got the answer she had hoped for; however, just as she was going in for another kiss, Matt looked concerned and she asked what was wrong,a sense of doubt rising back in her. 

"Are you sure you want to though? After what happened in New York, I just wanna make sure you're okay with doing this." 

Even though the question hit her hard, she gave the honest truth and answer: 

"We can't change what happened but what we can do is learn and grow from it. We weren't ready for a baby back then, no matter how optimistic we were; I think it was for the best though. I think we're ready now." 

Matt once again hugged Steph tighter than ever before and she hugged back as if he was in anchor to this world. She hoped this, the beginning of a new chapter in their lives, would bring them closer than ever before. 

"So, uh what do we do now?" Matt asked, still discombobulated from all of this. 

"Well, I did say there was more in store for you besides a peck on the lips, if you know what I mean." She said, seductively. 

Steph didn't need to tell Matt twic,e seeing as how within 10 seconds of those words being spoken, they were already halfway up the stairs devouring each other's faces with their clothes making a trail from their origin point to the top of the stairs by the time they got to their bedroom. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
A year and a half later: 

Ah, Christmas. It's the only holiday where once you finish the Thanksgiving turkey, you ditch the turkey decorations and swap them out for Ugly Christmas sweaters. The magical, fun-filled season that brings joy to many across the globe. The eggnog, the awesome advent calenders, and the mouth watering Christmas dinners which could only be rivaled by Thanksgiving dinners. However, the best part of Christmas is receiving presents and spending the holiday with your family. 

The past year and a half had been revolutionary for Matt and Steph. In July of last year, they made the astonishing discovery that they were expecting but the supposed "magical experience" wasn't completely a Yellow Brick Road. If the morning sickness had been bad last time, it was the actual embodiment of Satan himself this go around. It was as if Steph needed to be within at least 20 feet of a toliet and 500 miles away from food to prevent an upchuck of her stomach contents were. 

Along with the extreme morning sickness came the oh so glorious mood swings. One minute, she could be overjoyed about seeing a batch of cupcakes on the kitchen table and with the snap of two fingers, she'd be sobbing about the fact that Skip wouldn't come to cuddle with her or she'd be furious about the fact that the toliet paper wasn't placed on properly. Needless to say, Matt as well as Jason and Chris were on high alert and cautious of everything for quite some time. 

With these symptoms making it increasingly difficult for Steph to get any work done in general and more importantly for her comfort, Steph stopped appearing in the livestreams and fans were deeply concerned. Matt had addressed the concerns by saying that she had gone back to North Carolina for a little for some family business and while it seemed plausible enough, the Theorists couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

Steph returned when the symptoms had calmed down and she was entering her 2nd trimester. Matt and Steph both knew that soon, the pregnancy would become inevitably noticeable. They had already told their family and friends once they had past the "safe period", who all of course reacted with grand excitement, but had held off telling the Theorists until the were able to find out the sex of the baby in order to have a gender reveal of some sorts. They waited as long as possible however, they wanted to be just as surprised as everyone else so they had the gender placed in an envelope which was sent to a bakery; they would make the traditional gender reveal type of cake along with some balloons and confetti with the corresponding color and they would celebrate it during the stream. 

When the stream was coming to it's end, Matt finally broke the silence and announced the news live to roughly about 17,000 people. The cake was brought out and Chris and Jason prepared to release the balloons and confetti they had somehow managed to contain up until then as soon as the color was visble. Matt and Steph both gripped the knife with anticipation, carved out a small slice, and lifted it up to reveal it was: 

Pink.

They were having a girl.

On cue, a sea of pink confetti and balloons fell from above them and a set of cheers from the 2 men behind the cameras as well. Estatic, Matt and Steph hugged and proceeded to eat the cake while reading off congratulatory messages from the chat and Twitter. Everyone was excitied and had even thrown in some potential baby names. Unbeknownst to either Matt or Steph, both of their parents had tuned in tonthe stream and called afterwards in utter elation, beating them to the punch. 

The next months were just setting up a nursery and Matt driving to the 24 hour supermatket nearby to comply with Steph's midnight food cravings. Then on April 25, their daughter Lily Emily Patrick was born. Everything had gone smoothly aside from Steph, while in labor, yelling at Matt to stop pacing around the room since it was annoying as hell 

Sleepless nights and going through the day in a pure bliss and haze was the norm for the next 6 months. Quick naps and liters of coffee were how they managed to stay awake and work. Speaking of which, there weren't many theories coming out as before and GTLive had been put on hiatus for the time being but the majority of the Theorists understood. 

Now, here they were on Christmas Eve: sitting under the tree with 9 month old Lily gurggling happily, playing with a new set of toy keys in Steph's lap. Lily had curly brown hair and a pair of huge brown eyes that could melt anyone's heart; she had already started to crawl around and had been stabilizing herself on the sofa edges in order to stand up. She could stand up on her own for a couple of seconds.

"Do you think she can actually walk now?" Matt asked, rattling the toy keys in front of her.

"Maybe. I took my first steps at her age so it's possible." 

"Wanna find out? Stand her up and let's see if she walks towards me if I call her. If she doesn't, I'll wash the dishes for a week but if she does, you have to buy me a McFlurry." Matt challenged Steph

"Okay sure, you're on." She replied, lifting Lily so that she was standing on her own. She looked around in confusion until Matt started calling her over across from her.

"Lily Billy, come to papa! Come on, you can do it!" Matt cheered on as the baffled little girl was unsure of what to do. 

Then, slowly yet steadily, she began to walk over. Her legs were shaky and unstable but she kept her eyes on her dad and successfully made the journey to be received in a tight hugs and a swarm of kisses on the cgeek by Matt. Their daughter had taken her first steps and both parents were equally shocked and delighted. 

"Guess you owe me a McFlurry now." Matt said with a smug look plastered on his face. 

"Shut up." She said, giving him a kiss on the lips. "I love you, Matthew" 

"I love you, Stephanie." 

I told this story in order to show people that the obstacles we face in life aren't easy and life isn't easy in general. It's complicated and difficult like algebra but it's the small moments in life that keep you going. Something like ordering something online and anxiously awaiting it in mail keeps you going until the day you get. It's the most cliche saying in the book but cliches are what they are because they're true: things will get better, all that's left is to keep moving foward. 

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. So I noticed that there's not that many fanfics about Matt and Stephanie so I said fuck it and decided to write my own. I probably won't write any fluff so this will be an angst only one shots book; however, there a possibility I will write fluff in the future but it's not high. I have no idea how this idea came to me but it was probably from a dream. Anyway, I will update as much/soon as possible but I have school and I do work slow on these stories so just a cautionary note. See you all in the next one, bye!


End file.
